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Letter: America, Get Angry About NSA Spying

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” Now that I know that the National Security Agency is spying on us, I feel better about being slightly paranoid. “Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then.” These two quotes come from the book “Catch 22,” which was published 50 years ago. It’s a fictional book about bomber crews attacking Germans in Italy during World War II. The crew hates their colonel because he keeps raising the number of required flights. One man goes to a psychiatrist and tells him that he is insane and therefore shouldn’t be flying. The psychiatrist informs him that he must be quite sane or he wouldn’t have realized the dangers, so he must keep flying. It was the “Catch 22 regulation.”

This term has come into use many times to describe an impossible solution or contradictory reasoning. The most recent is NSA’s answer when challenged to show their snooping has prevented terrorist attacks. Their answer was that they couldn’t tell the public about potential attacks because it was secret. This after James Clapper, the top spy chief for the U.S., lied through his teeth to Congress on the extent of NSA spying and was outed by the information given by Edward Snowden.

The apologists for NSA spying point out that many people willingly give up their personal secrets through all sorts of electronic communications such as Facebook. People should realize there is a drastic difference between willingness to give up personal information freely and Uncle Sam’s secretly stealing it. More embarrassing secrets are still coming out about the U.S. spying all over the world. Most people are nonchalant about this. Only when they are listening to your bedtime conversations will Americans get angry.